Thank you so much to emma . ray, best beta reader of the world, alway available to discuss my crazy ideas and pushing me to go further and to better myself.

I arrived at the DiLaurentis house safely, but with the heaviest of hearts.

I couldn't believe what had happened last night, and again this morning. Paige and I were one. She wanted me as I wanted her, she felt for me as I felt for her.

I had managed to sneak back into the slaves' room with Lorenzo's help and was sitting on the thing that was supposed to be my bed. Nobody else had noticed I was gone, or so it seemed.

It was as if the only memories I had were the ones I had with Paige. Nothing else existed, I had never lived before last night.

Not even the memory of Alison's secret room could bring me down. And the promise of tonight was enough to make me live through today. I just had to lay low for a few hours and I would be gone before Alison's return.

Leona, the oldest of the slaves at the DiLaurentis', came to find me as soon as the sun had set its course over the house.

"Your chores for the day will be cleaning the impluvium and to cater to some other minor tasks. Domina is going easy on you because you just arrived and Alison is absent but as soon as she's back you're gonna have a hell of a time."

Her tone wasn't threatening, it was more like a warning, as if she already knew what horrendous fate Alison had in store for me.

"Come with me, you have to eat before you start the day."

Breakfast was composed of bread and some dry figs, a delicacy after these days of hunger. I ate it all in just a few minutes, Leona's eyes set upon me with sadness and a bit of hilarity.

She led the way to the empty impluvium, the big basin that was the heart of the house. Romans houses were set this way - parties and orgies took place in the atrium, the biggest room in the house, and the impluvium was filled by rain when the gods were merciful enough to bless us.

The water then was used as anointment, especially during those dry days where water was rare. It hadn't rained in a few weeks and the hope was that a clean impluvium would appease the gods and set them in a mood to bless the town - and most particularly the house of the DiLaurentis.

Leona handed me a big broom made from boar's hair, a bucket of the precious liquid and a large soap. I started to clean as my mind began to runaway to Paige.

My safe place. My Everything.

I never could have guessed that intimacy with someone would feel like this. I had laid with numerous people but I was ordered to. Last night I was free. Free to touch her wherever I liked, free to follow her breath as I moved inside her, free not to hurry for her to finish but to explore every inch of her, free to be over the edge and jump and let go. Safe for the first time. Alive for the first time.

I found that where it wasn't supposed to be - with a patrician. Her status was supposed to make her superior to me, but I was the one in charge – well at first at least – and I was drunk from the power I had over her. Every caress, every whisper in her ear had a proportional reaction over her body and we weren't master and slave, we were masters over each other's heart and soul.

When she had melded with me I was in the safest place on Earth. Her shy but steady hand was the softest of touches and I was shivering just thinking about it. It wasn't mechanical, it wasn't in the search of pleasure that we had explored each other, it was the most delicate and personal way we had found to say what our tongues were too numb to articulate. I couldn't wait to be in her arms again, to feel her eyes on me, her hands over me, to breathe the same air as her.

I absentmindedly bit my lower lip and looked at my surroundings, my mind fleeing to what she could be doing, desperately seeking her presence even if I knew she was out of reach. I was staring at the wall and my eyes caught Leona who reprimanded me by a serious glance. Fuck, I hadn't noticed I had stop scrubbing the impluvium. I tried to focus on the task at hand but I couldn't erase the tiniest smile from my lips.

I was kneeling, cleaning the floor, so I didn't see her come in.

"Well, looks like you are finally useful for something" said Alison's mother.

"Oh Jessica, stop screwing with the slaves. Alison bought that one for herself, don't ruin her before she has the time to have a little fun. Apparently she has big plans for her."

A tall man was by her side, probably Alison's father. Seeing them together, the way they stood, their apparent wealth and their disdainful looks, the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree. What shocked me the most was their knowledge of Alison's twisted games. They were probably lax because Alison was their only child.

"That's what I'm doing!" she said, defensive.

If she was afraid of him, I guess I knew where Alison's sadistic ways were from.

"After that you'll go help clean the kitchen," she said in my direction "Happy Kenneth?"

"Yes. Come on we're going to be late at the Hastings'."

I finished cleaning the impluvium and was feeling dizzy. It wasn't profound, the water probably arrived at knee level when it was full but I didn't want to do it all over again if Leona wasn't satisfied. I was sweating, a bit dehydrated in that dry summer's heat.

"Come on, you're going to clean up a bit before helping in the kitchen. The domini have another feast tonight."

It was perfect. The preparations and the bustle would be an ideal diversion for my escape.

The rest of the day went smoothly: I helped preparing venison, ducks, partridges and all sorts of breads and dressings.

Everybody was really busy, and I felt fear crawling in my stomach. I was supposed to leave when Lorenzo made a sign in my direction but I couldn't find him anywhere.

Leona wasn't leaving my side, ordering me around - put this here, and this there, bring this to the atrium - and it was like a snake was forming a knot in my throat. I had to be there on time, I didn't want Paige to think I was unable to come or worse, that I had voluntarily abandoned her.

Lorenzo finally appeared, telling Leona she had to prepare Alison's parents' bedchamber for it to be enjoyable later in the evening. He grabbed my forearm when passing by and whispered in my ear.

"Time to go lovebird."

I followed him quickly, benefiting from the shadows and the fuss the house was in. I had nothing to take with me, I didn't own anything except from the feelings I bore in my heart. We arrived near the cabin in a matter of minutes and Lorenzo double backed.

"Good luck," he said in a whisper.

"Thank you. For everything." I answered softly.

"The look in your eyes is enough," he said in a tiny smile. "Farewell Emily. Be happy, far away from Alison."

I waited for him to be out of sight before moving forward and entering the cabin. Paige was already there, bathed in the soft light the candles provided. I had never seen someone as beautiful as she was in that instant. Her eyes were radiating with kindness and love and despite her body being cloaked in a long cape, I was able to trace the curves of her in my mind. It was like coming home, everything about her was familiar yet I needed to explore her to be at peace and leave my mark. Like an old song you once knew by heart, resting on your lips, but you need to listen to it again to have the exact phrasing.

We stared at each other for a moment, unable to speak or to move. She was the first to get closer to me and we hugged so tight I could hear all the pieces of my broken heart gluing back together. We were as one again, and what was awaiting us was a dangerous endeavour but with her I felt as safe as if the Gods were in our presence, protecting us from their holy coat.

"I missed you so much. It was torture to be apart from you," she whispered in my ear.

I could feel her voice breaking, as if she was about to cry.

"We have all the time in the world to be together. We should leave and never look back. There is only us now. You and me Paige, forever."

I had an idea while writing this chapter, so if you want to take Antiquity Paily as only one story, please skip what's below and go directly to "Alternative Ending".

But if you wanna see Antiquity Paily as the Prologue for a new fiction I'm going to write, please trust me and read what's below and not "Alternative Ending".

The door opened with a BANG and we took a step back to look at the person who had entered. Ella. What was she doing here?

"I'm so sorry Paige," she said.

"For what?" asked my Goddess.

Ella didn't had the time to answer. Alison, accompanied by four robust men, barged into the cabin.

"SEIZE THEM!" she screamed.

"But you promised you wouldn't hurt Paige!" Ella tried to argue.

"Do you think I have to keep the word I give to a slave?" she barked. "SEIZE THEM NOW!"

Two of the men rushed to my side, the two others to Paige's. I was a fury. I was kicking, biting, clawing whatever came in contact with me. Screaming the name of Paige, the one that was once a name of comfort and was now a cry of despair. We were torn from each other and her eyes had been on me the whole time, allowing Alison to weasel her way behind her and to put a knife to her throat.

"Come with me slave. Or I cut her right here, right now."

I stopped fighting. I stopped living. I was but a dead shell, defeated. I would do anything to protect her. Even lose my life.

"Good. Now you see who's in control," said Alison with a smirk. "Take them outside."

The men grabbed us and we left the comfort of the cabin. Ella was trying to free Paige, arguing with Alison.

"You can't take her. Her family will fight you can't- "

"SILENCE !" barked Alison. "You two. Stop."

Alison was facing Paige, her face a few inches from my love's.

"I told you I owned you. I own her. I can do whatever I want with her and you can't do anything to stop me."

"You are a monster," answered Paige. "You are pure and complete evil. Why can't you just let us be ? What is it to you?!"

"What I want, I get," said Alison. She formed her words in the most delicate way. Her voice was soft, articulate, and she was calm. She knew there was nothing anyone could to do to bring us back together now and she was making sure every word she would pronounce would be anchored into our minds forever.

"I'm going to let you go. It would be worse for you knowing she is mine and that she will never leave my side. Well... for a moment at least. I'll be done with her pretty quickly I guess."

Her tone was now sharp, cutting like a knife. Hurting Paige at her core. My heart was breaking, I couldn't believe minutes ago we were in each other's arms, about to run away from this wretched place, about to leave Pompeii and never go back.

And now everything was lost. My life will end before I could kiss her again, lay with her again, and if that was supposed to be my destiny, if the Fates had decided to give her to me to only tear me away from her, there was no point in living.

"Don't follow us. There is no point in you fighting anymore." She then turned to the guards: "Let her go."

The two men let go of their grip, only for Paige to try to kick the ones that were holding me in order to set me free. Her hand was trying to reach mine, to feel me for the last time when one of the guards struck a blow on the back of her head. I screamed. Or I think I screamed. My whole body was completely numb, I wasn't able to hear or to feel anything anymore. I watched her as her head hit the cobblestone and the light coming from the street allowed me to see blood. The world had stopped. I was feeling myself extending my arm in a desperate way to reach her while screaming her name as the men were taking me away. Away from her. I didn't care about what they could do to me, about what Alison was about to do to me. I just wanted to know if she was alive.

I lost sight of her as we were turning at the corner of the street, as Ella was bent over her head, trying to help her.

—

The sky was falling apart. The Gods were angry at what was happening and we could feel the Earth trying to break loose under us. Even with the night I could see the clouds darkening everything around us. It even seemed like black smoke was invading the streets. A thunderstorm was screaming, as if the world was trying to defeat Alison and to bring me back to the arms of my beloved. It had started to rain but it wasn't the salvation everybody was expecting. It was as if the rain was made of sulphur, every drop was stinking to the touch, and it was so heavy that we couldn't see a meter before us.

We arrived at the house where the party was in full swing. People were chanting around the impluvium, putting their hands in the sky as devotion towards the Gods that had blessed Pompeii with rain. They didn't seem to notice how toxic it was when it was clear to me that it was poison. Alison was gloating, as if the rain was her own doing. Celebrating her victory over me, over Paige, over us. Over love. She was greeted by her parents and some of their guests that had stopped looking at the sky to turn their heads on us.

"So this is her?" said a guest.

"Yes Alison, is that her?" said another one.

"Calm down people," said Alison, as full of herself as usual. "Yes, this is her."

What were they talking about?

"It seemed to have pleased the Gods that I caught her when she was about to disrespect the orders of the world. Even more than I had expected." She made a dramatic pause. "Therefore we shall not wait longer before the sacrifice."

Sacr-

"Bring her by the impluvium."

No. It couldn't be real. Romans didn't do that anymore. Human sacrifices were considered Barbarian, even if slaves were the ones being slaughtered. A slave's life didn't matter but they were never properly called sacrifices, not in front of that many nobles men and women.

The four men were holding me, restraining my arms and legs, and they carried me towards the impluvium, the very same one I had spent the morning cleaning.

"LET GO OF ME! LET GO OF ME!" I screamed.

My whole body was breaking. I was trying to free myself from their grip, moving, pulling, trying to bite. But nothing. I didn't even free a finger. There was no point but I had to try. For Paige.

The whole house was now silent. Everybody was looking at me but I couldn't see their faces. I wasn't seeing anything. They threw me on the cold ground and made me kneel next to the basin. It would have been pointless to try to run or fight now. I was defeated. I was surrounded, in the middle of a house full of patricians and slaves. I lowered my head, fixing my eyes on the impluvium that was now full of the toxic rain.

Alison's mother then spoke.

"Nick McCullers, would you do us the honour?"

McCullers…was he Paige's father?

"MOTHER!" screamed Alison, outraged.

"Alison, you would do as I please in my house," said Kenneth.

A voice I had never heard before answered

"Gratitude to the House of DiLaurentis. But it's only fair that Alison get the honour as she is the one to have brought this beautiful creature here and pleased the Gods so they would grant us their divine gift. She is truly blessed and we shouldn't insult them by denying her this privilege."

I heard Alison giggling by my side. She had come closer and I could feel her vicious glance all over me.

"Fair enough," said Kenneth with a sigh. "But please come closer to be the witness of another miracle."

The man who I supposed was Paige's father was now standing by my right, as Alison was at my left and the guards were standing a little further behind me. I knew what was going to happen. I fixed my eyes on the water, on the rain that was merging with the liquid filling the basin.

I didn't know if Paige was alive. I didn't know if she had made it, if she was okay. I closed my eyes and went back to my safe place. To her arms. To her kisses. To her caress. I was thinking about her eyes when my face hit the water. Alison's fingers were hooking my hair as she pushed my head under water and I didn't even try to fight. I was picturing my love's smile, the soft way she had traced the shape of my body on the mattress, her eyes glowing in the dark as she looked at me when water entered my lungs and my vision of her started to blur.

I love you Paige. We found each other in this life, I will find you in the next.

THE END

Here you go. Okay. It sucks. Everybody is dead. Even Alison as Vesuvio was preparing it's eruption. And even Ella. My original plan was for following chapters to make Paige go to Delphi see the Pythia (it was supposed to be Jenna because hello weird blind girl), get a prediction, then go to Hell like Dante or Orpheus and bring back Emily's soul (and then they'll leave Alison chained in the Room while Vesuvio is erupting and be happy forever YAY)

BUT. Like I said at the middle of the chapter, I had an idea while writing this so if you have decided to stay with me and not hate me too much, see you soon for "Afterlife".